Axis & Allies - damowords

Canto 3
The birth of Berlin, the second & third crusades,
& the rise of the Mongol menace
The Second Crusade
The road to Jerusalem hatchʹd open
Protected by the sacred Knightʹs Templar,
The European flock to sense Heaven ‐
The desperate, the pilgrim, the bizarre;
Whose western ways
Encroach upon the east,
As thro the desert haze the Seljuk Turks releasʹd.
The news had prickʹd thro Paereaus
To this kingdom in the sun,
ʺThe English are victorious!
London delivers Lisbon!
These omens tiding serious
For Allahʹs talisman!ʺ
But at a stroke that optimism falls,
A shout rings out, ʺThe Turks are at the walls.ʺ
The battles may last for a long time, perhaps even years. There
are powerful forces on both sides, & the war is important to
both armies. Its not a battle of good against evil. Its awar
between forces that are fighting for the balance of pwower, & ,
when that type of battle begins, it lasts longer than others ‐
because Allah is on both sides.
These rampant Mohammedians
Cut off the Holy Land,
Where bastions of Christians
More castles made of sand,
& Romeʹs releiving armies stoppʹd & slaughterʹd out of hand.
Dorylaeum
1147
Paulo Coelho